The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-09

The sinking fund commission met at
Columbia Thursday and considered the pids
for the Owendaw and Wythewood tracts III
Berkeley county. 1t will be remembered
that at the last meeting OF the commission
only one bid for these lands was received;
1t was from the Berkeley County Land ana
Stock Company, which offered Pc. per acre.
The commission considered this price too
low, and extended the time for receiving
offers, making public announcement OF the
amount of the Berkeley company's bid. At
Thursdays meeting the following bids were
considered: Berkeley County Land and
Stock Company 25c. per acre; A. j. Salinas,
30c. per acre; w. j. Black, 33c. per acre;
Edward Willis, Sc. per acre. Maj. Wills
was cash offer for not less than lo,OOO
acres. AS the tracts named contain l5,0SO IL
acres, his bid was accepted. At 5Sc. per acre
the sale will yield the State 5000 90. IT the
offer of the Berkeley Company had been ac-
cepted the State would have received 49, $50,
12, or s., ia 81 less than the postponement
have brought. These two tracts were
bought for the land commission in the era
of good stealing" by Commissioner T. +.
Leslie at the reported price of S38,4OO for
S23, 600 for the Wythewood tract Of 5,517
acres. It will thus be seen that the 1887
acres cost the State certainly SOL, 400.
Several thousand acres have been already
sold by the sinking fund commission to
various parties, leaving the 1850 acres,
which Maj. Willis has taken in a lump. The
price now obtained seems small compared TO
the inflated valuation of the Leslie period,
but it approximates the actual value
of the land at this time. In order to en-
able the commission to Judge accurately of
the value of these lands, their special
agent, Capt. Vincent T. Martin, was re-
Gently sent to examine it carefully. Capt
Martin reported its value for grazing pur-
poses at between $4,000 and $4,000, and
added that it was the finest tract of pasture
land he had ever seen. 1t was self-sus-
tanning stock range, he said, containing
within its limits abundant food for cattle all
the year round Maj. Willis intentions are
not known, but it is believed that he will
put the land to the same uses proposed by
the Berkeley Land and Stock Company. At
any rate, this tract, so long idle on the hands
of the sinking fund commission, will now be
placed on the tax lists and yield a revenue to
the county and State. The sinking fund
commission received two bids from brokers
for certain assets of the State-bonds and
stocks-in the hands of the commits
sion Both were rejected and the COM
mission decided not to sell at pres
ent any of these assets, which consist, &C
cording to the recent official reports, of the
following securities chiefly given in return
for State aid or in payment for convict
labor: 2,400 shares capital stock Cheraw
and Salisbury Railroad Company; 10000
shares capital stock Spartanburg and Union
Railroad Company; 2,125 shares capital
stock Pendleton Railroad Company; 1858
shares capital stock Columbia and Augusta
Railroad Company; 6,400 shares capital
stock !Cheraw and Coalfields Railroad Com
pany; $500 shares capital stock Laurens
Railroad Company; 200 shares capital
stock Charleston and Savannah Railroad
and Tnckaseegee Turnpike Company
81 ,407 SO worth of the capital stock of the
Edgefield and Trenton Railroad Company.